Agenda for the 93rd Annual General
Meeting of the Van Riebeeck Society for the Publication of Southern African
Historical Documents (VRS), held at the Colleges of Medicine of South Africa, 17 Milner Road,
Rondebosch 18h00 on Thursday 14th June 2012.

The Chairman, Prof Howard Phillips, welcomed the approximately 60
members present. Apologies were recorded (as per the attached list).

2. In Memoriam

Members stood for a moment’s silence whilst the Chairman read out the
list of members who had died since the previous AGM (list attached).

3. Confirmation of the Minutes of
the 92nd AGM held on 3 November 2011

The minutes had been displayed on the VRS website, while copies were
available at the AGM as well. Acceptance of the minutes was proposed by Tanya
Barben and seconded by Jan Truter. They were signed once accepted by all
without discussion.

4. Matters arising from the minutes

Cora Ovens reported that in answer to a request last year that the
financial statements be sent out prior to the AGM, she
had sent the statements by email to all who had indicated they would be at the
AGM.

5. Treasurer’s Report

The annual statements had been circulated and were also available at the
AGM. The auditor was satisfied with the VRS’s
handling of financial matters. Although direct income was not enough to cover
publication costs plus overheads, income from investments was sufficient to
make up the shortfall. The book value of investments is over R1 million, which
is an increase of 10% over the previous year.

MrWestra also referred
to the interim statement from January to June 2012, which showed the same
trends as in the previous year. Surpluses in the current account were
transferred to a savings account and from there they were invested to bring
extra income. Mr Wittenberg enquired about interest
rates in the savings account (about 4%) and long-term investments (about 6%).
To this MrWestra provided
satisfactory answers. Acceptance of the financial statements was proposed by A
van Zyl and seconded by Chris van der Merwe. Prof Phillips led a round of applause
to thank MrWestra for his
prudent management of the VRS’s finances.

6. Chairman’s annual report
(attached)

After Professor Phillips had presented the annual report for 2011/12,
Ian Farlam proposed a vote of thanks to Professor Phillips for his inspirational
leadership of the VRS. Margaret Kooy asked what would happen if the annual
volume was heavier than 1 kilogramme – the answer is
that the volume would be divided into two volumes, published in consecutive
years. Margaret du Toit proposed that members should start collecting their
annual volumes from the VRS office. Cora Ovens explained that, unfortunately,
it was not always possible to predict exactly when the volume would become
available, and that the printer required stamped padded envelopes well in
advance of the publication date. Subsidies for volumes were mentioned – it is
easy enough to get them for Afrikaans volumes, but not for English ones.

Con de Wet proposed accepting the report and A van Zyl seconded the
motion which was carried unanimously.